Solution to Age-old Problem: Physicist Invents Drip-Free Wine Bottle

If you’re a seasoned wine drinker, you know the horror of accidentally staining lighter fabrics with those pesky drips running down the bottle.

But now, thanks to a physicist at Brandeis University, we may never have to undergo that stressful situation ever again.

Daniel Perlman, an inventor and biophysicist, has spent the last three years trying to develop a drip-free wine bottle. Though there are already patented devices that you can attach to the wine bottle to prevent drips, Perlman viewed them as unnecessary steps to an easy-to-solve problem.

By watching slow-motion videos of wine being poured, Perlman noticed that the liquid tended to stick to the bottle’s neck because the glass is hydrophilic. He then figured out that by cutting a groove in the wine bottle’s lip, it prevented the liquid from dribbling down the neck.

According to officials at the university, the wine bottle design hasn’t changed much in the 200 years since it was invented, making Perlman’s invention revolutionary indeed.

Perlman is currently in negotiations with bottling companies for the adoption of the design, bringing an end to the centuries-old problem of drips.